The Estonian delivery startup, Starship Technologies, is to test its autonomous delivery robots in the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland; a similar programme is to be announced in the US.

According to Starship, one of the largest European food delivery companies, Just Eat; a leading German parcel delivery company, Hermes; a leading German retailer, Metro Group; and a London food delivery startup, Pronto.co.uk, will test the delivery robots developed by Starship Technologies, a company launched in 2014 by Skype co-founders.

As part of the programme, dozens of robots will be deployed in five cities to run first test deliveries and introduce the innovative devices to the general public.

Robots developed by Starship Technologies are meant for delivering packages, groceries and food to consumers in a two-three-mile radius. The robots can drive autonomously while being monitored by human operators in control centres. Introduced to European and American cities since the end of last year, the robots have already driven close to 5,000 miles and met over 400,000 people without a single accident.

The test programmes will run in London, Düsseldorf, Bern and in another German city before moving to several other European and American cities. Starship Technologies will also continue testing in Tallinn, Estonia, where its R&D facilities are located.

Sten Hankewitz is a lifelong journalist and Deputy Editor at Estonian World. Having lived in Estonia, Spain, the UK and all around the US, he now resides in Chicago, IL. He loves to write and besides working at Estonian World and doing some occasional blogging, he writes books and contributes to other outlets in Estonia, Israel and elsewhere. He has strong convictions and he shows them unashamedly. You can follow him on Twitter, like his page on Facebook or check out his personal blog. You can write to Sten at sten@estonianworld.com.